Helmut & Johanna Kandl

Palette pursues the question of where the paints, pigments and binding agents used in a painting come from. In this sense, every painting also represents a map. Gum Arabic, for example, an indispensable binding agent in paints, mostly comes from Sudan, while the pigments for ultramarine / lapis lazuli come from Afghanistan, ochre from France and Krems white from the town of Krems in Austria. In art history research, not only the source of the painting tools is largely ignored; the production conditions for the extraction of the pigments or binding agents are also blanked out.

The dominant importance of the artistic authorship identifies the origin of an artwork solely through the originality of artists. The work by those toiling in the mines or on the plantations to enable the paint to be produced forms a blind spot in the cultural field of what is visible. Mapping Painting is dedicated precisely to this blind spot and goes to the production locations of paints and binding agents. In collaboration with various scientific disciplines and research institutions in Vienna and Graz, Johanna Kandl and Helmut Kandl visits different production places to interview the people in situ and to record their work and living conditions. Together with scientists in the field of restoration and material research, the (worldwide) source of material research is mapped.

The exhibition in the Kunsthaus Graz shows artistic works by Helmut & Johanna Kandl as well as artworks from the collections of the Universalmuseum Joanneum, which have been investigated beforehand as to the origin of their pigments or binding agents. It links up artistic, cultural-historical and scientific research.